So You Think That Money Is The Root Of All Evil?

"So you think that money is the root of all evil?" said Francisco d'Anconia. "Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?

"When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears not all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor--your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money, Is this what you consider evil?

"Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time. Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions--and you'll learn that man's mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.
"But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made--before it can be looted or mooched--made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can't consume more than he has produced.'

Hanmer Springs

Hanmer Springs is a cute town on the South Island of New Zealand. We went to Hanmer Springs as part of my University of Waikato's semester break. Hanmer Springs is a not what I thought that it was gong to be. The town has a few cute cafes, a tiny grocery store, and the springs. Now the springs are not as awesome as I thought that they were going to be... I mean, the entire town is named after these springs, they has got to be awesome right?

Arthur's Pass

Credit: Alexandra Bertin

Arthur's Pass National Park is west of Christchurch. On the way to Arthur's Pass you drive right past Castle Hill, an awesome must see. The mountains on both side of you as you drive through are just massive and give you the feeling of being totally insignificant.

Gibbston Valley Winery

After we went to Alexandra, we drove to Gibbston Valley Winery in the Central Otago grape growing region. Gibbston is home to some of the best pinot noir on the planet... so I've been told. We signed up and did a cave tour that also included a wine tasting in the cave.

Alexandra

There is a tiny town in the middle of the south part of the South Island, of New Zealand called Alexandra. Why did I go to Alexandra? Well my friend who I was traveling with on our University of Waikato's semester break was conveniently named Alexandra... so naturally we needed to go there and take pictures of her in front of ever single sign that said 'Alexandra', so we did. These are some of my personal favorites.

TIKA 163: Introduction to Traditional and Contemporary Māori Society

This past semester I took at The University of Waikato TIKA 163: Introduction to Traditional and Contemporary Māori Society. This class has taught me so much about not only about the Maori, but also about New Zealand. I have had a lot of interactions with my fellow Maori students, some examples of some cool (and funny) cultural encounters are that a group of the Maori students did not know where Ohio was within United States (I don't blame them for not knowing) and when I started to tell them where it was, one student asked me how far Ohio was from California.

TIKA 157: Introduction to Maori Performing Arts

This past semester at The University of Waikato I took TIKA 157: Introduction to Maori Performing Arts. The only pre-requirements are just an open mind and a willingness to shake that groove thing! Well TIKA 157 is not so much of booty poppin kind of 'dance', but more of an understanding to the meaning's the type of dances and cultural impact that kapa haka have on the Maori people.

Bluff

Sterling Point Sign

Bluff is a tiny fishing and port town that is on the outskirts of Invercargill. Bluff is also the home of this famous landmark located in Sterling Point.

Avalanche Peak

Avalanche Peak is a spectacular tramp (hike) in Arthur's Pass. The entire hike up is essentially a rock scramble that winds along a river that has several waterfalls as you hike up, out and back takes about 6 to 8 hours. As you come out of the tree line you can see massive views for miles of the other mountains and peaks of Arthur's Pass. To actually get to the top of the peak requires a good bit of effort, but nothing that is too crazy.

Fergburger

The Big Al Burger

Fergburger might be the best place to get a burger in all of New Zealand. Not even kidding. I might have thought that it was the best because it was the first real food to be eaten in 10 days while on my University of Waikato's semester break... anywho, this gem of a burger joint is right on the main street in the adventure capital, Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand.

Nikau Cave and Cafe

Nikau Cave and Cafe is by far the best cave tour that I have ever been on. The cave is chock full of glow worms, stalactites and stalagmites all that shine with an eerie pale glow from the flashlights that are given to you.

Able Tasman

Separation Point

As part of the University of Waikato's semester break, we drove to the Abel Tasman National Park which is on the northern part of the South Island. While someone could spend at least a week in the Abel Tasman, we only got to do one night and day.

University of Waikato's Maori Graduation

I got the awesome opportunity to see a traditional Maori graduation. The event was entirely in the Maori language (I did not understand a single word) but none the less it was pretty cool to see. This post is from an international student's view, I am so glad that I got to see this.

Coffee Shops of New Zealand

As a general rule, cafes in New Zealand serve high quality espresso based beverages, such as a flat white, or a long black. Most cafes carry sandwiches, New Zealand quality Maketu Pies pies, and bro's like Andrew "the most 'fetch' barista in town".

Castle Hill/Kura Tawhiti

Credit: Alexandra Bertin

The Castle Hill/Kura Tawhiti park is outside of Christchurch on the way to Aurthur's Pass. These magical limestone rock formations are not only loaded with fairies, but also world class bouldering and rock climbing. Natures' playground!

Chiefs Rugby Match

Went to a rugby match where the Waikato Chiefs played a home game. The resident director from AustraLearn and friend of mine, Gavin set the whole thing up, another reason to study abroad through AustraLearn. If you get the opportunity to go to a rugby game, go do this.

Blogging for the University of Waikato

So the University of Waikato asked me to blog for them! I am putting the same stories up as on here, but now I am reaching a larger audience! Pressure is on. Any suggestions on what I should blog about? Suggestions on adventures I should do? Check out the blog here: http://www.waikato.ac.nz/international/home-and-away/

Kaikoura And Swimming With Dolphins

Kaikoura is a tiny cute east coast town on the South Island of New Zealand. It is about a two hours drive from Christchurch. The downtown is historic feeling with a cute east coast (but not touristy) USA feeling with little mom and pop cafe's scattered about. Kaikoura is for sure a retirement place just by the feel of it, and the fabric shop was a big hint also. While at Kaikoura my friend Cara really wanted to go swimming with Dusky Dolphins so we called up Dolphin Encounter and signed up for that day. Expect to pay about $170 NZD... ouch.

Jucy

So my friend Aaron has been renting Jucy vehicles for a while now here in New Zealand. So I decided that I would try them out for my University of Waikato's 16 day semester break road trip of the South Island, what a great decision!

Nelson

Nelson is a cute artistic town nestled on the Tasman Bay on the northern part of the South Island of New Zealand. Nelson is the town where the famous "One Ring" was forged... sorry hobbits, it wasn't Mordor after all... the place where the ring was actually made was at Jens Hansen's goldsmiths!

Hot Cross Buns

Remember that song that we learned in elementary school called "Hot Cross Buns" where we spent hours playing that horrible recorder? Here is a video to refresh your memory... sorry for getting it stuck in your head for the next three days:

"Ferry", Wine Tasting, Chocolate

We took our Jucy rental from Auckland down to Wellington with a stop in Hamilton. This is a really freaking long drive, like 9 hours, but so much better with friends. We stayed with my friend Colin's friend (and now my friend) Emily in her freaking mansion in Wellington.

Update from the road

Over the past five days we have been wine tasting (Grove Mill), chocolate tasting at a factory, and hiking Abel Tasman where we swam with wild seals. This morning my friends and I woke up on a guys couch that we met at a kicking burger joint called the Fat Tui that we drove out of our way over a mountain to get to in a tiny fishing town on the tip top of the south island of New Zealand (thank you Emily and Colin for the tip). 

Semester Break Intended Plan

So the University of Waikato's semester break (a 16 day break in the middle of the semester... this is New Zealand what else did you expect?) is about to start and I am STOKED. This is the intended route!

View New Zealand Semester Break in a larger map

I am renting this car from Jucy and piling two friends and a hitchhiker that is surprising his son for his birthday in and hitting the streets! We are going to be living out of this car (and tents) seeing the sights, tramping (hiking) the tramps, hitching the hikers, and having one grand adventure! I'll have a full post up with pictures and everything after we return on the 1st of May.
If you need me my NZ number is 0220734842. Cheers!

Kingitanga Day

Today was Kingitanga day at the University of Waikato. What in the world is Kingitanga day you ask? Well I was most stoked about Kingitanga day because we got classes off... but I had no idea what it was! So naturally I needed to see what the big deal was about. Kingitanga day is a day full of Maori culture and the celebration of the relationship between the University of Waikato and the Kīngitanga (the Maori King Movement). The day was full of lectures, history, bla bla, and games and prizes. Now we are talking!

Mount Taranaki *win*

So two weeks ago we attempted to climb to the summit of Mount Taranaki but we failed because the weather was really terrible... this time we succeeded! The adventure starts out with us heading back to the same black sand beach, this time we swam across a freaking *freezing* river that forms as the tide was going out to sea over to an island.

The river wasn't too deep so don't freak out family...

Scuba Diving the Poor Knight Islands!

Hello! I am doing a guest blog swap with Cara. I hope that you enjoy the blog and decide to share it with friends, family, fellow divers, and anyone that you can think of that might be coming to New Zealand. So with out further delay, here is Cara!

Hello everyone! Chris and I are exchanging blog posts for this past weekends adventures! Feel free to check out mine as well (http://assweetasnewzealand-cara.blogspot.com/)!

This past weekend Sean, Chris, and I shared was definitely pretty awesome.  We left Friday afternoon in Scrumpy, our friends’ car. Let me introduce you to scrumpy. She is a mute moss green color, 4 door, itty bitty car complete with lady bug seat covers. There is one power window, one key entry (the other side someone ruined trying to break into her), if you lean on the back right door or sit in the middle seat the interior lights come on, and the back left door doesn’t open at all (that one might have been my fault).  She has personality EVERYWHERE.  We got up there about 11pm, and after a small ordeal at the hostel where we realized we all had no game, headed to bed. I woke up about 5 am the next morning to cow mooing. Never knew those animals were quite so loud. Around 8 we headed to the dive shop.

Always question, but don't always seek the answer

As students, we are continually taught *cough* forced *cough* to seek the answers, this can create problems for intellectual types. There are questions in life that we cannot possibly know the answers to (what is the purpose of my life? who am I? What am I passionate about? Is this life over before it even began? How old is the milk in the fridge?) These questions cannot possibly be answered to their fullest black and white sharpness turned up to the max, extent like we are trained to know. So as professional question ask'ers (students) we go round and round feeling empty and defeated the deeper we question.

AustraLearn Study Abroad Program

If you're a student from United States coming to New Zealand. I highly recommend going through AustraLearn. For real.

Things that AustraLearn did to not only get me to New Zealand but also, learning about, adjusting to, and living in here in New Zealand:

Attempt at Mount Taranaki *fail*

So here was the original plan: renting a car again for the weekend and driving to Egmont National Park (near New Plymouth) and tramping (hiking) Mount Taranaki aka the most dangerous of all mountains to climb in New Zealand. We were planning on getting there and doing some light hiking for the rest of the day then camping out for the night.

Then on Saturday flipping morning we would get up around 5 am and depart for the summit by 6 am. It says it is about a 8-10 hour return tramp, so we would be done by around 4 pm. Then we would just hike some other stuff or relax or find something cool to do. Then Sunday we would probably check out New Plymouth and maybe a beach and chill, until leaving to drive back around 4pm. We would be back in Hamilton around 7pm. It would be $60 for the car for the weekend and then gas money.

That was the plan.

We even bought beer with mountains on the can. Serious.

Bassnectar

Went to Bassnectar with friends on a Wednesday night. Drove up to Auckland with a fellow student and his friend that I had met the day before for about 15 minutes. We went to a pre-party that a large bit of my AustraLearn friends were putting on. Then we walked up to the concert. It was total madness.

Hitchhiking, Waihi, Lake Taupo, Raglan. All in one weekend

A friend and I decided to hitchhike 160 km (99.34 miles) from Hamilton (New Zealand) up to Cathedral Cove. At least that was the plan. This ended up being a wild turn of events... anyway we ended up not getting totally there, but found this really awesome tiny gold mining town called Waihi with tunnels and everything open to the public.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing and Mount Ngauruhoe a.k.a Mount DOOM

Let me start the post out like this:

The top of Mt. Doom also known as Mount Ngauruhoe. Boom.

We (AustraLearn students studying at Waikato University in Hamilton, New Zealand) took a Naked Bus into Whakapapa, which is on the north side of Mount Ruapehu. We stayed at the National Park Backpackers in the campsite. For the future, I am not keen (cool) on paying $14 for a "campsite" when the national park a.k.a free camping is right down the road. But I digress. 
We set up tents, drank some double browns and called it a night.

Don't go with the flow. Flow with the go.

I challenge you to Flow with the go

Everyone knows the saying "go with the flow" it means to let go of control and just go with what is happening. Urban dictionary is a pretty good definition. Go with the flow is also a pretty awesome song by Queens of the stone age... But in the context of life and social sense...

I can't stand this.

Manifesto

This was an adventure to create. It is what I want to live my life by. See if you can read it. Most of you won't give a flying crap.

PharynMed Update

WE JUST GOT A LICENSE DEAL WITH MIAMI UNIVERSITY!

Tauranga Weekend

Feb 26
A group of us AustraLearn students (14 total) headed to Tauranga for the weekend. While on the bus there (we took Intercity Coach for $45).
I was sitting next to a pacific island dude, with the full shorts tattoo called a moko. A moko is a series of tattoo patterns that represent the wearer's genealogy, social status, and history. This site is pretty solid to explain Maori tattoo's. The art form of the moko is still very much alive here in New Zealand, I see Maori and pacific island people everywhere with these beautiful tattoos. So much better looking then the flames and skulls and other white trash tattoos of the states.

Go give blood

So I just gave blood to help out with the earthquake that happened in on February 22, 2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand through NZBlood. This earthquake was a huge ass quake registering in at 6.3 on the Richter scale and left 166 confirmed dead.

Week two of New Zealand

February 20th
Went to the local art show at the Hamilton Gardens. Went and saw Luke Thompson, a Wintech student was playing, this was really cool. He was really good, awesome chill and wine music. After seeing Luke some of my American friends showed up and we jammed to Knights of the Dub Table, which is some good funky beach music.

"All the world's a stageAnd all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts."

 After Knights of the Dub Table, we walked up the lawn and saw "As you like it" a Shakespeare play.

 

Getting to New Zealand and Culture Week in Rotorua

Day one February 11th 2011:

Left Cleveland - excited but got super sad, especially when mom and dad were crying as I got on the plane. Super cool though, the ticket lady allowed them to go through security and to the gate with me. It was great to spend the extra 30 minutes with them.

 

Arrive in LA - Met my cousin Nicole (and shopping examiner for Examiner.com) and had a great dinner with her. Got on the Air New Zealand plane headed to New Zealand, sat in the very last row right next to the bathroom... For 13 hours. Slam flush slam. Plus the girl I was sitting next to was super